Saturday, April 2, 2016

Pregnant Limited-English Chinese Woman with Two Small Children given $500 meat fine - No Translator Offered - Zero Leeway

This is a single purpose blog: To document abuses by the United States Customs and Border Protection Service (CBP) against my wife and family, and to make note of & link to abuses received by others.

My wife speaks limited English. She's pregnant. She's prone to morning AKA all-day sickness related to her pregnancy. We have two young children, aged one and three.

She was the one fined $500.

She is the one threatened with expulsion from the Global Entry program, a program we signed up for specifically because we have young children and were hoping to spend less time in line when returning from China.

But, if you sign up for Global Entry, the CBP is much more interested in the contents of your bags - and any little specks of meat which may be inside.

Even if you declare that you do have meat at the Global Entry kiosks, and even if you do declare that you do have meat on the paper customs form, that's not enough for the angry, abusive, and anxious to pounce CBP officers. After 15+ hours of travel you must be required to verbally state every small instance of "meat" you may have, within 5 seconds of being asked. Otherwise it's a $500 fine for you, and a probable boot from Global Entry.

And if you're a limited English person who really should have a translator fully explaining what exactly is meant by the term "meat," doesn't matter! Still a $500 fine and a probable boot from Global Entry.

Fruit sniffing dogs.

Angry conniving & thuggish officers who are ready to pounce at the slightest misstep.

The CBP treats everyone like a criminal and everyone like a terrorist.

The face presented by the USA to visitors and returning citizens & residents is actively hostile.

Included below are quotes from letters we've shared with the White House, and with one of our senators. We've asked them for help, but we're not hopeful.

We suspect that the wheels of the CBP grind very finely. The CBP appears to be a de facto raquet and scam. A scam to get money & frankly to terrorize regular citizens & residents & visitors. Treating all people with the same blunt tool:
You will be treated with the same concise & exacting anger as one might expect for a drug dealer, prisoner, criminal, or a terrorist - if you have the smallest speck of prohibited food in your bags - and even if you select "yes" to the relevant questions on the customs forms and at the Global Entry kiosks as your "official" declaration as to what's inside your bags - and which does knowing route to you to mandatory all-bag inspection.

You try to be honest? After 15+ hours of travel you forget one speck of stuff? And even though you've selected "yes" as your official declaration which you know mandatorily routes you to full bag inspection? That's not enough for the thugs at CBP.
Thug is a strong word. But when it comes to brutalizing pregnancy tired sick women who speak limited English, and who try and "come home" to America with their two young children in tow - the term is fully accurate.

More details can be found in the quoted letters below sent to our elected representatives. We shall continue to document what happens with us in this blog.

Key items for your further review of this matter:

Items 1 & 2: Our letter to President Obama; our letter to one of our senators.

Combined PDF (opens in a new window).

HTML version below.

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Jonathan XXXXX with Yanning XXXXX and children XXXXX & XXXXX
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
XXXXXXXXXX, Utah XXXXX
March 31, 2016

President Obama
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, District of Columbia 20500

Dear President Obama,

As per your website’s invitation for feedback, and the general principles of freedom of speech & petitioning our government for a redress of grievances, I am writing to you today.

My wife is an immigrant from China and she speaks limited English. Recently she and our family were the recipients of abuse at the hands of the U.S. Customs & Border Protection Service (CBP) at the San Francisco Airport.

My wife packed our bags. We did select “yes” in answer to the meat & vegetables questions at the Global Entry kiosks and on the paper customs form. My wife is pregnant and is highly prone to morning sickness (AKA all-day sickness). We have two young children. We had just traveled for 15+ hours and were very tired. Our children were tired and were complaining. We were first greeted at the San Francisco Airport by an angry, yelling, and unhinged CBP officer who was yelling at a Chinese tour group in a large hallway to move on more quickly – while a tour guide was explaining how to fill out the paper customs form to this group. All these factors wore us down and resulted in this:

A failure on the part of my wife to verbally state, within 5 seconds or less to a CBP officer, that there was a very small amount of meat in our luggage. My wife didn’t fully understand exactly what was meant by “meat.” A large piece of meat? Meat in a loose bag & not in a sealed package? And she was never provided a translator. My wife reported that the words of the officer involved sounded muddled to her and were hard for her to understand. And my wife’s condition & ability to accurately & quickly respond was degraded due to tiredness & pregnancy & having to deal with and help our two young children.

But, she was the one fined $500. And she is now the one being threatened with expulsion from the Global Entry program. An expulsion of her from Global Entry would be a de facto expulsion of my whole family. My wife is the mother of our children, and we shall not travel separately nor stand in separate lines.

Enclosed is a petition I am sending to one of my senators, regarding help with the CBP. Inside my petition you shall find further reference to exactly what happened to us. Also included is relevant commentary regarding how others are generally treated by the CBP – how the initial “face of America” as presented to all visitors is a hostile one.

I know that Senator Hatch shall be forwarding my concerns to the agency involved for a response. If in your capacity as President you are able to provide some positive assistance that would be welcomed also.
Sincerely,

Jonathan XXXXX with Yanning XXXXX, & XXXXX & XXXXX  

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Jonathan XXXXX, with Yanning XXXXXand children XXXXX& XXXXX XXXXXXXXXX
XXXXX
,Utah XXXXX
March 28, 2016

Senator Orrin Hatch
c/o Help with Federal Agencies, with additional relevance to the Senate Committee on Finance & other committees
104 Hart Office Building
Washington, District of Columbia 20510

Greetings Senator Hatch,

Regarding the First Amendment, Right to Petition.

We are writing to request your help with the following federal agency: U.S. Customs & Border Protection Service (CBP).

Our petition for your office & the CBP begins.

The nature of our complaint has main three elements:

Issue 1: Demeanor of CBP officers at the San Francisco Airport port of entry.

Issue 2: Appeal regarding property seizure and of a fine.

Issue 3: Appeal regarding threats made to our Global Entry membership status, threats made during our visit to the San Francisco airport (SFO) on March 27, 2016.

My wife and I were legally married in the State of Utah. My wife currently has a Green Card and hopes to become a U.S. citizen.

We have two young children, age one (a girl) and three (a boy), and my wife is pregnant with our third child (a girl).

We obtained Global Entry memberships to help us be able to more easily return from China, and more recently & particularly because my wife is currently pregnant. We usually visit China once per year so that my wife can see her family, and so that our children can see their grandparents and uncles.

Regarding issue 1, the demeanor of officers at the San Francisco Airport port of entry.

Upon arrival at the San Francisco airport immediately after exiting the relevant airplane we were on, we noticed a Chinese tour group leader telling a group of travelers information about how to fill out a customs form. This was all happening in a secure large international passenger hallway & plane exit gate area, right next to a large sculpted artwork present in the large hallway.

An apparent tour leader was instructing his group regarding how to fill out the form, a CBP officer started yelling loudly from down the hall and barking orders for the group to move more quickly. The CBP officer was very angry and upset. The tour guide responded “ok ok,” whereupon the CBP officer said “NO IT’S NOT OK!!! MOVE IT! COME ON! MOVE IT!”

This was these peoples’ first introduction to America: An angry and unhinged CBP officer barking orders at them, all while their Chinese tour guide was trying to explain how to fill out a relevant CBP form in the large hallway outside of the relevant airline gate we all were at.

Regarding issue 2, an appeal regarding property seizure and of a fine:

Our family proceeded through the Global Entry kiosks ok. We believed we had filled out the relevant customs form for our family sufficiently. At the Global Entry kiosks we did select “yes” to the question regarding whether we had brought in any food, vegetables, or meat. And on the paper form a “yes” was selected.

Primarily & probably solely because of our “yes” selections as noted above, our baggage was then X-rayed and opened up by CBP officers.

Inside of our bags the officers found items which matched up with the Global Entry kiosk selections of (meat & veg) “yes,” and with the front-of-the-form selections of yes for meat & vegetables.

Specifically one piece of bread with very small pieces of cooked pork on the outside of the bread was found.

Also one small sealed package of sausage purchased as a gift for us from Walmart in Nanning, China (yes they have a Walmart there) was found.

Also one package of noodles with “chicken extract” inside was found.

My wife speaks limited English and she has a more limited understanding regarding CBP regulations. On the back of the customs form we did indicate the phrase “packaged bread.” And on the front of the form we did indicate a “yes” to the question regarding whether we had brought in meat. We also stated the word “etc” after a phrase similar to or exactly matching “packaged snacks.”

The process of being grilled and interrogated by a CBP officer can be befuddling. After 15+ hours of travel my wife & I were very tired. Our two very young children were tired & upset. And after our encounter with the CBP officer barking & yelling orders, we were further worn down.

We made our “best faith effort” in filling out the relevant customs form. We also made our best & good faith responses at the Global Entry kiosk when we said “yes” to the meat & vegetables question.

The small package of sausage purchased from Walmart in Nanning came as a gift and was mixed in with bag of other non-meat gifts. And again we did answer “yes” to whether we had meat both at the Global Entry kiosk and on the front of the paper form – the most relevant part of that form.

The piece of bread found came from a bakery. The word “bread” was mentioned in our declarations.

We gave the CBP full opportunity to check our bags.

When people answer “No” to the question regarding meat & vegetables, they are usually just waived on & not fully checked. We saw this first hand. Thus the CBP appears to have a gotcha-type system & scheme where common citizens & lawful U.S. residents are easily trapped & penalized – directly & severely penalized for attempting to be honest.

There should & must be a difference between treatment & handling of people who answer “no” & are found to have prohibited items, and people who answer “yes” to the related question. YES was our official deceleration, at the Global Entry kiosk, and on the front of the paper form, regarding whether we had meat & vegetables present.

According to the USDA website at

meat is allowed:

Products for Personal Consumption

Federal inspection regulations permit the entry of small amounts of meat, poultry or egg products for personal consumption 9 CFR, Part 327.16, 381.207, and 590.960. The amount of a personal consumption shipment cannot exceed 50 pounds for meat, poultry, or dried egg products and 30 pounds for liquid or frozen egg products. The products must be for personal use only and cannot be sold or distributed in U.S. commerce.

Such products are exempt from FSIS import regulation, but they are subject to Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) animal health requirements. These requirements change frequently, and travelers should contact APHIS for up-to-date information by visiting the website or calling (301) 851-3300.

All travelers entering the United States are required to declare any products of animal origin (including soup or soup products) they may be carrying. The declaration must cover all items carried in checked baggage, carry-on luggage, or in a vehicle. U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agriculture specialists at the ports of entry will examine the items and determine if they meet the entry requirements of the United States. Additional information on bringing agricultural products into the United States is available from CBP.


Long traveling families, with children age one and three, and a wife still prone to morning sickness AKA all-day sickness, and families where a key family member who packed our bags speaks limited English should be given some leeway. And even more leeway should be given when in the first instance we a.) tried to be honest, and b.) we set ourselves up for mandatory inspection as per our YES answer to the meat & veg question at the Global Entry kiosk.

From our perspective, our answering of “yes” to the meat & vegetable questions at the Global Entry kiosks, and “yes” on the front of the paper form, should have covered what was found.

Long traveling tired families like us are not well prepared to respond to being verbally grilled, and to verbally remember every little thing within 5 seconds of being asked. But, we did remember to select “yes” in answer to the meat & vegetable questions at the Global Entry kiosks. And we did remember to select “yes” in answer to a similar question on the front of the customs form.

And again a YES answer at the Global Entry kiosks routes one, knowingly, to mandatory inspection. Had we answered NO at the kiosk and on the paper form, we most likely would have been waved on after a quick verbal question regarding whether we had any fresh fruits or meats.

We COULD have lied & then been waved on. But we did not. We sought to be truthful, and we set ourselves up for mandatory inspection. Plus we answered YES during BOTH opportunities to declare meat & vegetables, at the Global Entry kiosk, and on the front of the relevant paper form.

The CBP officer who dealt with us was not helpful. He acted rather like an exacting judge in a court room. One wrong word. One wrong comment. A lack of a proper response within 5 seconds. One temporarily forgotten piece of bread or packaged sausage (not recollected verbally within 5 seconds) after traveling for 16+ hours including connections & layovers, and with a wife who is still prone to all-day sickness related to her pregnancy, and with two very young upset & tired children – one very small misstep with this abusive CBP officer resulted in the following:

                A $500 fine.

                A threat to my wife’s current & future Global Entry membership (issue 3).

We maintain & claim that our representations at the Global Entry kiosks and on the paper forms were sufficient declarations to cover the very few things found as noted. Fully sufficient.

In our tired & degraded state after our long journey, we provided the best quick answers we could.

We gave the CBP full opportunity to check our bags, via our “yes” answers as previously noted. When one answers “yes” to the meat & veg question at the Global Entry kiosks, that automatically & mandatorily & knowingly routes such travelers to the more intensive baggage inspection.

We basically allowed the CBP officer involved to abusively pounce while he searched for the smallest tiny mistake with our verbal responses. But we, my wife & I, set the wheels in motion for this trap via answering “yes” at the Global Entry kiosks to the meat & veg question. But, we answered “yes” in good faith. We were trying to be honest & to do the best we could under the circumstances.
A pregnant woman with two very young children who speaks limited English, was the one fined.

As the inspecting & fining CBP officer involved was asking us initial very quick spoken & cutting verbal questions, my wife would not have had time to process his questions & answer them appropriately.

We were never offered an interpreter.

My wife never was asked one question, directly, and with an interpreter asking the questions – particularly during the whether-to-fine-or-not-fine decision-making part of the conversation with the relevant fining CBP officer.

And overall we received zero consideration for the fact that we were a family traveling with two very young & upset & tired children. No leeway. Nothing other than a very quick verbal game which one can either pass or very easily fail. My wife should not have been expected to pass such a game in her state & after such long travel & after being very tired & sick as a result. Yet, she was the one fined.

A lack of equal treatment under the law:

The CBP officer we dealt with regarding the inspection & fine stated that Global Entry members are investigated more closely. However a general principle of the rule of law is that people be treated equally before the law. Thus the more intense fruit & veg scrutiny to Global Entry members given by CBP officers violates a principles of equal treatment.

People who answer “no” to the meat & veg question are checked much less often than people who say “yes.”

People who aren’t Global Entry members are checked less than people who are.

This is all unequal treatment.

The CBP penalizes people who try to be honest.

We did not set out to “sneak” anything in.

We gave our good faith best-effort answers at the Global Entry kiosks, and on the relevant paper form – regarding having meat & vegetables inside our bags. We answered and declared YES.

Traveling with two young children, and having a wife who’s highly prone to all-day pregnancy related sickness, and 15+ hours of continuous travel, resulted in our being able to be easily befuddled and tripped up by a ready-to-pounce CBP officer. But as noted we opened the door to their being able to find the items they were then concerned about. And we did say “yes” to whether we had meat & vegetables – because we were trying to be honest in the first instance. This was our declaration first & foremost: an answer of Yes at the Global Entry kiosks and on the relevant paper form, to the meat & vegetables question.

Why did we choose to pay the spot fine instead of going to court? Because we live in Utah. We cannot reasonably be expected to travel from Utah to a court in San Francisco to fight this matter. And so we paid the $500 fine quickly so that we could be on our way with our two young kids, and so that we could get a bit of rest in San Francisco before continuing on to Utah.

However the CBP officer involved never mentioned, during the whether-to-pay-quickly-or-not-or-go-to-court part of the conversation, how my wife’s Global Entry membership would be threatened via our decision not to fight in court. He only mentioned this way after the fact – and after we paid the $500 spot fine. Thus the officer did not provide full information during our decision making process regarding which route to proceed with initially.

Plus again, the CBP provided no Chinese-speaking translator during the entire verbal interaction process with the CBP. Thus the CBP officer’s questions verbally expressed to us would not have been fully understood by my wife. This is a very important point.

During the fine issuing process, my wife was never consulted, directly, regarding whether she would have preferred to pay the fine up front, or via check, or whether to go to court – and certainly never with an interpreter speaking with her directly.

Regarding issue 3: Appeal regarding threats made to our Global Entry membership status, threats made during our visit to the San Francisco airport on March 27.

My wife’s Global Entry membership could now be revoked, and her future Global Entry application attempts rejected.

The CBP officer who verbally dealt with us stated that my wife’s Global Entry membership would most likely be revoked, and that our future attempts to have her be a Global Entry member would most likely be denied.

A termination of my wife’s Global Entry membership would mean a termination of all of our memberships. We do not travel separately to China nor to other international destinations. If she cannot use the program then none of us can.

Tired families with small children, who exit their airplane and first encounter a yelling order-barking CBP officer (issue 1) can then be easily befuddled by an exacting and similarly angry CBP officer when it comes time for the meat & veg inspection & for the related exacting interrogation.
We made our best faith efforts to comply with the regulations. But we don’t believe the CBP makes good faith efforts to accommodate families with young upset small & tired children, and a pregnant wife with pregnancy nausea & sickness, with their exacting demanding questions & grilling, and with wives who’re threatened with fines & expulsion from Global Entry who speak limited English - families where one key member doesn’t understand their questions as they are being asked.

The CBP apparently takes every opportunity to trip people up, and to then ruthlessly penalize people.

Regular people. Regular citizens who’re just trying to come home after a long journey.

Further notes regarding issues 1 and 2:

Even taking into account the strict letter of the law, the USDA states that small amounts of meat are allowed to be brought in. And we tried to be honest via our responses of YES to the meat & veg questions at the Global Entry kiosk and on the paper form, which we KNEW would route us to mandatory inspection.

1. One piece of bread with little flakes of cooked pork on the outside.

2. One vacuum sealed package of sausage purchased from a Walmart in Nanning & received as a gift.

3. A package of noodles with no meat except for “chicken extract.”

4. Answers of “yes” at the Global Entry kiosks regarding whether our family had meat & vegetables.

5. An answer of “yes” on the front of the paper customs form regarding meat & veg.

6. A mention of the words “etc” after “commercially packaged snacks,” and also “bread” on the back of the form.

7. Tired families with two young children.

8. A wife with pregnancy related sickness.

9. A wife who speaks limited English and who cannot understand quickly-spoken questions from angry exacting CBP officers.

All of these factors combine and result in the following requests:

Request 1: That the $500 fine imposed on my wife be dropped. If it cannot be fully dropped then at least reduced to the lowest amount possible (eg: $1 or $0).

Request 2: That the US CBP confirm that my wife’s Global Entry membership is not threatened by the harassment & abuse & fine we received at SFO on March 27, 2016.

We are not terrorists. We are not criminals. And frankly we don’t deserve to be treated the way we have been so far.

We request to be able to appeal the fine imposed, and appeal in such a way which doesn’t require that we travel to San Francisco nor to a physical courtroom.

We request to be able to appeal the threats made to my wife’s Global Entry membership. A termination or blocking of her membership will be a de facto termination of all our our memberships.

Does the CBP ever forget & ever forgive? Or are citizens & permanent residents given permanent “black marks” if we do not respond with full & very quick courtroom-style accuracy to their grilling interrogative questions? Quick probing interrogative questions given to a woman who doesn’t fully understand what exactly is being asked of her?

My wife hopes to become a U.S. citizen within the next year or two, primarily because we have two U.S. born children and third on the way. Will my wife’s ability to become a citizen be threatened by what’s happened to us so far?

We request that all the factors mentioned in this letter be read & fully considered, and that our appeal requests as stated and noted be granted & honored as requested.

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The way the United States treats visitors & returning citizens & residents is hostile.

Yes of course terrorists should & must be blocked & stopped. But most people are just regular travelers. The CBP should be more accommodating & kind (yes kind). By comparison when people visit China, very little if any “customs” checking is done. Essentially zero for regular visitors. Same goes for many other countries. Such countries are very welcoming to visitors.

The US regulations regarding meat & vegetables are overly punitive, and are enforced in a highly hostile & apparently unfair manner. The face presented by the US to visitors is not welcoming. It’s iron-fisted & just plain mean. Even citizens & returning residents are treated badly & harassed & abused.

Sincerely,

Jonathan XXXXX
with Yanning XXXXX 

and children XXXXX & XXXXX 

Enclosures: Photos showing our family during our March 2016 visit to China, and additional reference photos.

Cc: Senate Committee on Finance; Senate Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs Committee; House Homeland Security Committee; House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform; House Judiciary Committee.






Previous photos show our March 2016 trip in China, our family, and evidence of my wife’s current pregnant status.
Additional reference photos of our children:







-----end of quote of letters to our elected representatives.


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